��ӽ紫ý’s startup incubator puts CEO on path to developing accessible electronic health care records

Sarah Holland — Mon, 15 Jul 2024 19:23:15 +0000

��ӽ紫ý’s startup incubator puts CEO on path to developing accessible electronic health care records Sarah Holland Mon, 07/15/2024 - 15:23

Jourdan Saunders is a licensed speech-language pathologist and CEO of The Resource Key, which she founded to assist organizations in developing accessible marketing solutions for people with disabilities and facilitate compliance with regulations related to accessibility.

Saunders met Toni Andrews, senior associate director, Community and Local Government Relations at ��ӽ紫ý's Mason Square, via the Arlington Chamber of Commerce’s Education and Workforce Development Committee, who connected Saunders with Paula Sorrell, associate vice president, innovation and economic development, Mason Enterprise.

Sorrell suggested that Saunders participate in the Innovation Commercialization Assistance Program (ICAP), which helps Virginia’s inventors and entrepreneurs take the right steps in bringing new technologies and innovations to market. ICAP is part of Virginia’s Small Business Development Centers at ��ӽ紫ý and one of the many entrepreneurship programs offered at the university.

Jourdan Saunders. Photo provided

Saunders’ clinical experience exposed her to the need for industrial accessibility services. “As my clients transitioned into the workforce, there weren’t many opportunities due to a lack of accessibility and the perception that disabled people aren’t capable of working certain jobs.”

When Saunders met with Sorrell, they discussed the founding of her company and its next phase of growth—the development of a health care platform that would increase accessibility to electronic health records.

ICAP participants complete five three-hour sessions centered on customer discovery, conduct at least 20 customer discovery interviews, complete supplemental assignments, and meet with dedicated mentors.

Mentorship is a key component of ICAP. Each participant is paired with a dedicated mentor who provides feedback on each discovery interview, shares insight as an entrepreneur, and introduces mentees to connections that align with their goals.

“I’m grateful to have been introduced to ICAP,” Saunders said. “Having a dedicated mentor provide specific and actionable feedback following customer discovery interviews was very helpful.”

Program participants are also vital to network expansion. “Networking with my fellow cohort members expanded my reach,” Saunders said. “Many of my clients are in different states. However, through ICAP, I’ve made local connections that I can leverage as I grow my business.”

Once participants complete ICAP, they continue to have access to resources. The ICAP team stays engaged as a company progresses through its milestones, becoming a later-stage startup and eventually transitioning from a startup to a growth company and the unique needs this entails.

Since completing ICAP, Saunders has attended an industry conference and expanded her network. She expects to have a prototype of the accessible health care application ready for beta testing within the next six months.

“ICAP’s focus on customer discovery, mentorship, and resources are invaluable benefits for entrepreneurs,” Saunders said. “You become part of a community, an ecosystem, that’s continuous.”

��ӽ紫ý’s Small Business Development Centers offer ICAP free of charge as part of the Mason Virginia Promise, a pathway to a bachelor's degree or help starting a business for any Virginian who wants one.

Mason Enterprise Center is the place for innovation

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Mason researchers imagine improved imaging for health diagnostics

Nathan Kahl — Tue, 11 Apr 2023 12:41:27 +0000

Mason researchers imagine improved imaging for health diagnostics Nathan Kahl Tue, 04/11/2023 - 08:41

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Remi Veneziano

Parag Chitnis

Peering into the body past skin and tissue to detect problems, spot disease, and make proper diagnoses challenges medical professionals, even with recent leaps in the technology. Ultrasound, for example, while reliable, may add or omit information, cannot see through bones, is not adapted for deep structures, and might show things to be of a size and shape—or in a location—that is not accurate.

Bioengineering professor Remi Veneziano and Shrishti Singh in the lab. Photo by Evan Cantwell/Creative Services

��ӽ紫ý College of Engineering and Computing bioengineering team members, including recent Mason PhD Shrishti Singh, Assistant Professor Remi Veneziano, and Associate Professor Parag Chitnis, are clearing things up with advancements in what’s known as near-infrared photoacoustic imaging (NIR-PAI).

This technique combines the advantages of optical and ultrasound imaging to provide high-resolution anatomical and functional information about tissues. They are tackling the biggest hindrance to NIR-PAI—the limited availability of contrast agents—by using a novel contrast agent platform to improve imaging capabilities. It will result in improvements in everything from deep-tissue tumor imaging, lymph node imaging, and biopsies.

“This technology might give patients better diagnostics for colon cancer, pancreatic cancer, breast cancer, and more, and can improve their prognosis,” said Singh, who also has a master’s degree in biomedical engineering from the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut and an engineering degree from Ramaiah Institute of Technology in Bangalore, India.

The Mason team is making inroads with this important element of health diagnosis and treatment, and with funding from the Virginia Innovation Partnership Corporation (VIPC) Commonwealth Commercialization Fund, they are seeking to launch a startup to commercialize their developments.

The VIPC award totaled $75,000 and will largely be used to develop the technology further with Singh now working as a postdoctoral fellow. Along with Veneziano—her advisor—and Chitnis, Singh hopes to launch a company based on this technology.

In 2022 the three researchers participated in the Innovation Commercialization Assistance Program (ICAP), which assists Virginia-based tech-focused start-ups to get off the ground by teaching them to interview potential customers, get an understanding of the marketplace, and validate their business model.

The nonprofit operations arm of the Virginia Innovation Partnership Authority (VIPA), VIPC is the commercialization and seed stage economic development driver in the commonwealth that leads funding, infrastructure, and policy initiatives to support Virginia's innovators, entrepreneurs, startups, and market development strategies. VIPC collaborates with local, regional, state, and federal partners to support the expansion and diversification of Virginia’s economy.

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���ӽ紫ý’s startup incubator puts CEO on path to developing accessible electronic health care records

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��ӽ紫ý’s startup incubator puts CEO on path to developing accessible electronic health care records